Chapter 4000: Phantom Mirage (Part 1) A good chieftain killed all his enemies, within and without the tribe, the moment he identified them. Hassar had killed the previous chieftain and survived four coups since that day, and all thanks to his relentless practice of swordsmanship. Powerful spells needed time to be cast and often caused collateral damage that weakened the tribe and created new enemies from the families of the dead. A blade, instead, was a surgical tool that needed only an opening to work its magic. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺 The khopesh rose towards the Agni’s head, slipping past the other bone spike with a well-practiced flick of the wrist. The Nalrond of a few months ago would have failed to react in time and had his skull split open by the Upyr’s overwhelming strength. After fighting against Dawn over and over, however, after getting used to following the Horseman’s blade and suffering countless defeats by her hand, Hassar’s technique failed to impress the Agni. He simply stepped in, coming too close for the khopesh to be effective, and delivered a powerful headbutt right on the Upyr’s nose. An Agni’s skull was thick and his scales hard, but the mass gap with the Upyr lessened the blow to a finger flick. ’What the-’ Hassar shrugged off the pain and opened his eyes just to see a second Agni ramming his head on the chieftain’s nose. Then came a third, a fourth, and a fifth as the constructs Nalrond had conjured overlapped, forming a bright replica of their caster that followed his every movement with a split second of delay. The Agni put his right shoulder back into its socket with a grunt and lunged at Hassar’s head. The Upyr blocked the attack with his blade and was about to launch a counter when a shining blade came at him from the opposite side. ’-Fuck? Frost Soul is supposed to stop all spells!’ He thought, and he was wrong. Orpal’s bloodline ability only worked at the moment a spell, enchantment, or bloodline ability tapped into the world energy to take form. Nalrond had conjured his constructs before the chieftain called upon the Vurdalak’s blood, so they were unaffected by the corrupted water element. Hassar tilted his head to dodge the shining blade, but failed to avoid the third, fourth, and fifth blades. Each following construct hit the same spot, digging deeper into his flesh than the previous. On top of that, Nalrond didn’t wait for Dawn’s Phantom Mirage spell to be done to continue with his attack. He slashed at the enemy’s chest with his long, clawed fingers, and each sweep of his hands generated five more. Nalrond moved so fast that Hassar felt like he was fighting against an army. The Vurdalak’s blood coursing through the chieftain’s veins gave him mass, bloodline abilities, and fusion magic, but no help against the overwhelming speed of an Awakened violet core. In just a few seconds, Hassar bled from dozens of cuts and had more holes in his body than a piece of Swiss cheese. "Die, bitch, die!" As for Friya, she escaped death by rolling over before Tarek’s foot cracked her head like an egg. The mage had received an infusion of Orpal’s blood as well, but she was no warrior. With Frost Soul taking her magic away, Tarek could only infuse herself with Thunder Soul and try to kill Friya with brute strength before she thawed. ’How unlucky I am for almost dying of cold in the Blood Desert?’ Friya thought, cursing the Hydra blood flowing through her veins. It made her weak to low temperatures and amplified the effects of Frost Soul by several folds. Her entire body shivered, and her muscles were as stiff as bricks, making it almost impossible for her to dodge Tarek’s clumsy, telegraphed attacks. Each stomp of the mage’s feet blasted a crater open in the sand and made the ground quake, foiling Friya’s every attempt to stand up. A well-timed Spirit Blink saved her at the last second as fire fusion and the scorching sun of the Blood Desert drove the coldness away. ’Okay, so my armor and blade are useless, elemental magic is sealed, and the old hag needs but one hit to kill me.’ Friya thought. ’This will make for some priceless training against Meln’s Awakened Upyrs. ’Assuming Mom, Dad, and Nalrond don’t kill me first for putting the babies in danger, of course.’ She swallowed hard, afraid that the cold might have gotten deep enough to reach the twins. ’Fuck training!’ She shapeshifted into her hybrid form, her six serpentine heads hissing in fury as they conjured a Spirit Spell in unison. Tarek looked around for a second before spotting her enemy and charging at her with a single leap. Friya unleashed her tier five Spirit spell, Starfall, while the mage was still in mid-air and incapable of dodging. A hail of small green meteors imbued with the power of all elements appeared out of thin air, forming an emerald aurora in front and below the jumping Tarek. Each of the mystical projectiles was the size of a marble but also had the energy of a cannonball, and detonated upon impact with the destructive power of a concussive grenade. Friya timed the detonations so that they stopped the mage’s advance and slowed her descent as she conjured more projectiles that hit the mage like a fish in a barrel. Yet Tarek’s body was as compressed as Hassar’s, and her current form that of a 20 meters (66’) tall Divine Beast. Each one of the emerald spheres would have been enough to kill a human, but it could only scratch an Upyr. Even with Friya focusing Starfall’s full power on a single target, the tier five Spirit Spell was ill-suited to deal with a creature of that size. Tarek’s wounds grew deeper with each volley of projectiles, but Friya could see with Life Vision that the Upyr’s life force was barely affected. ’Does size really matter so much?’ She had entered the Yellow Wind village ready to fight human criminals, not Divine Beasts. ’What can I do? My equipment doesn’t work, my magic doesn’t work, and I’m so cold.’ All the spells Friya had prepared were useless, and the lingering effects of Frost Soul numbed her mind as much as her body. She felt weak, and her eyes drooped, needing sheer focus just not to fall asleep. Then, Friya clenched her teeth while holding her womb, letting her fury warm her. An emerald dimensional passage opened right below the falling Tarek, and Friya shut it down while the Upyr was halfway through, sundering her horizontally. Tarek tried to avoid the trap by flapping her wings, but to no avail. Pain flared from below, and blood frothed from her mouth as she gasped in agony. Tarek focused light fusion on her wounds in a desperate attempt to prolong her life when she ran out of Orpal’s blood. Her body returned human, and she exploded like a gory firework. All the damage Starfall had inflicted upon Tarek shifted on the now much smaller and frailer target. Blood and bones shrapnel for dozens of meters, painting Friya red. Hassar was now alone, but he didn’t have the luxury to worry about his fallen comrades.